Profile
Mohamed Abdi Ware is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). His appointment was approved at the 41st Extraordinary Summit of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held in Djibouti in December 2023.
Prior to this role, he served as the Special Presidential Envoy for Civilian Protection and Stabilization in Somalia. During a period of active counter-insurgency against Al Shabaab, he was tasked with ensuring that military operations were conducted in accordance with International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions. His mandate also included extending government authority to liberated areas and ensuring that basic social services were delivered, so that affected communities could experience tangible improvements in their lives.
Mr. Ware is the immediate former President of HirShabelle, having been elected by the HirShabelle Parliament on a platform of security, reconciliation, and development. During his tenure, he became a founding member and the first Vice President of the Council for Interstate Cooperation (CIC), a body that brought together Somalia’s Federal Member States. He strongly believes that a deep federal system, which takes governance closer to local communities, is the best guarantee for Somalia’s long-term stability.
He has made significant contributions to Somalia’s democratization and state-building processes. Notably, he was one of the principal negotiators of the 17 September 2020 Agreement and the Dhusamareb Process, both of which paved the way for the peaceful conclusion of the 2022 Parliamentary and Presidential elections.
From 1990 to 2000, Mr. Ware worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). During the devastating famine of the early 1990s, which caused widespread starvation across southern Somalia, he helped lead a massive humanitarian effort that included an American-led peacekeeping operation involving over 25 countries.
In addition to the ICRC, he worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during the 2000s, where he helped manage UN support for state-building under the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) led by President Abdullahi Yusuf. Later, he managed a UN-supported Financial Services Project that contributed to the establishment of the post-conflict Somali Central Bank and other key financial institutions. This initiative helped create a financial compliance framework for Somalia’s financial system, enabling the flow of diaspora remittances while safeguarding against money laundering, terrorism financing, and other financial crimes.
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Mr. Ware led the World Bank–financed ICT Support Project, which facilitated the passage of Somalia’s contentious and much-debated Telecommunications Law. The project also provided the Federal Government, State Governments, universities, and humanitarian organizations with the first broadband cable internet access in Somalia.
Before the civil war in the 1980s, Mr. Ware worked at Somalia’s Ministry of Agriculture. He remains passionate about rural livelihoods and resilience in the face of adversity.
Mr. Ware holds a double-major BA in Economics and Political Science from Indiana University, Bloomington (1985). He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in International Relations at Harvard University’s School of Extension Studies.
He is married and a father of eight children (four daughters and four sons). A lifelong learner and traveller, Mr. Ware continues to dedicate his career to peace, governance, and resilience in the Horn of Africa.
Address:
Deputy Executive Secretary of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
Ave Georges Clemenceau, Djibouti
P.O Box 2653,
Republic of Djibouti
Tel: +253 77586823
Twitter: @MAWareSO
Email: Mohamed.ware@igad.int
